display problems

Hi. I have a custom built computer (not sure what all the guts are) but I have a pentium 450 mhz processor and a voodoo3 2000 graphics card. I am and have been having problems with display. Currently I am only able to run in 16 colors. I am sure you can guess that I am tired of only have so many colors. I downloaded the newest driver for it, ran windows update and even tried reinstallig directx. Let me now say that I got started on this because I couldn't change the resolution from 480x600, which i recently figured out was because my monitor was not on plug and play settings. The slider bar wouldn't even move, but thats no problem now. I can use the drop down menu to access the other display settings (256, 16 bit etc.) when I hit apply, I get the roboot prompt. Of course i say ok, but when the computer restarts, i am still in 16 colors! I tried getting directx8.1b from the microsoft website, and made sure to click on win98 and it said it wasnt for the right version of win when I tried to run it. Please help. I do not want to reformat my hd, last resort red button thing. New game coming out and I want to play it along with one that i got and wouldnt work. Any help is appreciated.

How long have you had the problem? Were any particular changes made before
it started? Has the Operating system been changed since you got the Voodoo
card?

You could try uninstalling the current graphics drivers then reinstalling
the ones that came with the card. There's no point getting DirectX8.1 as
only the very latest cards are compliant with this - it won't make any
difference to an old Voodoo3, and I think it may only work on XP anyway.

If the new game coming out is a 3D one it's very unlikely that a 450mhz
processor and Voodoo3 will cope with it.

Your problem is most likely because of the operating system... One thing I
want you to make sure of whether the driver for your display adapter is
correct... Are you sure that it's the current driver is the vodoo3 driver...
sometimes windows ignores the driver and continue to use the standard VGA
driver which's never able to go above 16 colors...

The second thing is to try to remove the drivers and reinstall it from the
scratch again.. try also to put another display adapter and start your
computer with the new adapter and see whether the operating system will
detect it...

=46rom what you stated here, this is a hardware issue you should check the MB
documentation to see if it is compatible with the voodoo3 card, Do you have
the drivers that came with the card? Reformatting the drive is not going to
chang anything unless you install XP =0D
=0D

The problem is more than likely a video driver or lack of the correct one.
Go to the manufacturer's website and get the current driver or the latest
driver that works with Windows 98. If you're running 98 Second Edition, you
should be able to click on the "Advanced" button under "Settings" and click
the radio button "Apply changes without restarting". It's a pain having to
reboot every time you change your video settings. Reformatting your hard
drive or reinstalling your operating system will only bring you back to
where you are now. Don't do it.

DirectX 8.1 functions on later versions of Windows (ME and up, Win 2000 Prof
and up.) If your game requires 8.1, you might wind up upgrading your OS
since the MS download is reporting the wrong Win Version, in spite of the
fact that the download link said "Windows 98". (Upgrading your OS might even
cause your Voodoo card to work correctly.)

Does your PC support Plug and Play? If so, doublecheck and be sure that the
BIOS settings say "PNP OS Installed". Perhaps Win98 is having problems
detecting the card. Lastly, be absolutely certain you do not have another
device in your system "stepping on" (or occupying some of the same memory
as) your video card. You can doublecheck this by clicking on "System" in the
Control Panel and clicking on the "Devices" tab. Sometimes the culprit can
be a LAN card, sound card or modem.

Does your PC have an onboard video port? If so, be certain it is correctly
disabled as Win98 doesn't cope well with 2 videos. Make sure all other video
card drivers are uninstalled.

I want to sum this up all in one go instead of 4 individuals. Thanks to all you help, i am now running at 32 bit color. What worked for me was the removing of the monitor and the graphics card from the system setup then restarting and reinstalling the drivers. But I have a complaint, an itch if you will, it bothers me but I am not exactly sure if i can fix it with what I have. I can change resolution just fine, but it is not clear. I am running 32bit color at 640x480. If i go up, to 800x600 it gets extremely large and very dark. If i go any higher in resolution, the screen is very wavy. I think it is the monitor settings, but i am not sure what to do. Like i said its a custom built pc, it was built for me so i have no clue what it is. It says "techmedia" on the bottom front left corner and thats it. No drivers or nothing on disk so. Any suggestions? I need atleast 800x600 for the game. Thnx again guysGet more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com

not quite sure what u mean by monitor type could you be more specific. as for size its 14 inches. Like I said before the only writing on the front is techmedia on the lower left corner, but im pretty sure its not the manufacturer or model, couldnt find it in the monitor list.Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com

It looks like you are experiencing some refresh rate problems.
Sometimes the following will solve this kind of problem:
Go to your DISPLAY PROPERTIES and click on the SETTINGS tab.
Then click on the ADVANCE button.
You should see a MONITOR tab, click on it.
In this window, you might see a REFRESH FREQUENCY (or something to that
effect) line.
Often, this setting is set to OPTIMAL, if it is so on your system, change it
to DEFAULT.
Also, you monitor might be of an older model that won't accept higher
resolution value.
If you can set the REFRESH FREQUENCY (or REFRESH RATE) and can't set your
resolution higher than 800X600, this means your monitor is of lower value
and won't accept higher resolution. (Meaning, if you set resolution to
1024X768 and get a scrambled screen, your monitor is an older model)

I'd recommend setting your colour setting to 16bits, as at 32bits it takes
quite a bit more resources of your system and you won't see much difference
between the 16 and 32bits settings.

Ok well I didnt find the refresh frequency and I tried to change the adapter settings from optimal to default and got nothing so I guess I am in the market for a new monitor. Thanks again for the help guys.

You'll have to forgive me if I don't explain this right since I am new to the computer realm.
I recently was given a V-Box PC from a friend that has windows 98 in it
I am having trouble with the display looking real grainy and some colors not showing up clear. my buddy said it worked clear before (he has'nt used it for 2 years cause the power supply fried) anyway he had me try to adjust the video settings they are set at 16 bit with the only other choice being 2 color.
he then had me check in "My computer" and the system says the driver is working properly.

this is the model it shows "Standard pci graphics adapter VGA"

I don't know much about this and he was at a loss. Hopefully someone can help, cause I can't even read some websites.

1st approach: Go to start->settings->control panel->system->device
manager, expand "Display Adapters" double click on the adapter. Click on the
driver tab at the top. Now you must either have the driver on a disk or you
must get on line then click the "Update Driver" button at the bottom. Note
down the name of the adapter that appears on the next screen if it is
different than the name you already have. Click next and follow the
instructions in the wizard. When it asks where you want to search for the
driver direct it to you driver disk and/or the Windows update site. If
Windows finds a driver it will install it for you by just clicking through
the wizard.

2nd approach: Go to the control panel as above. Double click on "Add new
hardware". Again follow the wizard and see if it won't identify the
graphics card as new found hardware. Or if you know you have the driver on
disk use the "Have Disk" button to install the driver.

3rd approach: "Remove" the Graphics card in the control panel->systems
applet, then reboot the computer. Windows will now try to reinstall the
graphics card driver on boot up. Again you will get a wizard asking where
your driver is or where you want Windows to look for it. At worst it will
just reinstall what you already have. You must have a Win 98 setup disk for
this.

Hi,
Bills approach is excellent. If you don't know the name of the card, look
for FCC ID number written on the board. Then you can do a search online to
find the original manufacturer. also often before the BIOS info comes up
info regarding the video card will appear. If you do a "pause" on the
keyboard you may be able to capture info about the name/brand of video
card. This will help you if you have to do an online search.
Jake.

Hi,
Is the vidoeo on board or do you have a seperate graphics
card. If it is seperate then you can take a look at it and look
at it to find the manufacturer or as explained earlier fcc-id.
Then search the net for drivers. If it is on board the at bootup
you can read the bios number using pause. This is a long number
in the bottom right hand corner of the screen along with the bios
manufacturers name. You can then look for the maker of the board
using this number or post the number here and i can tell you. If
it it MSi or something like that then they have a liveupdate that
will scan and download the drivers for you. If you are still at a
loss or cant find this number then post back and i will try and
help.